Carl Davis
Encyclopedia
Carl Davis CBE
(born October 28, 1936, New York City
, United States) is an American born conductor and composer
who has made his home in the UK since 1961. In 1970 he married the English actress Jean Boht
.
Carl is a conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
, and regularly conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
. He has written music for more than 100 television programs, but is best known for creating music to accompany silent films
. Davis has assisted in the orchestration of the symphonic works of Paul McCartney
.
anthology play series The Wednesday Play
and later for Play for Today
. Additional television scores include Up Pompeii!
(1971), The Naked Civil Servant
(1975), Man Friday
(1975), The Kiss of Death (1977), Langrishe, Go Down
(1978), Private Schulz
(1980), Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981), The Far Pavilions
(1984), The Day the Universe Changed
(1985), Pride and Prejudice
(1995), and Coming Home
(1998).
He also worked for television producer Jeremy Isaacs
in providing the theme music for the history documentary series The World at War (1973) for Thames Television and Cold War
(1998).
Davis conducted the BBC's theme song for their coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup
, adapted from George Handel's "See the Conquering Hero Comes".
(1981).
and David Gill
to create music for Thames Television
's Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film
. His association with them continued the same year with Abel Gance
's epic silent film Napoléon (1927), which was restored and expanded with Davis' music for cinematic release. In March 2012, Davis will conduct his score for the complete Brownlow restoration in a presentation by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival
at the Paramount Theatre Oakland. There was a similar treatment for D. W. Griffith
's Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through The Ages (1916). This had orchestral music originally, but Davis's new score was used instead in 1989.
The Hollywood documentary series was followed by the documentaries Unknown Chaplin
in 1982, Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow
(cf Buster Keaton
) in 1987 and Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (cf Harold Lloyd
) in 1989. In the 1980s and 1990s, Davis wrote and conducted the scores for numerous classic silent films released restored and released through Brownlow and Gill's Thames Silents
series in the UK.
By 1993, his reputation made him the number one choice for new scores to silent films. Many DVD releases, including Ben-Hur
(1925), Safety Last (1923), DeMille
's The Godless Girl
(1928), Chaplin
's City Lights
(1931) (re-orchestrated by Davis based on Chaplin's and Padilla's original written score) and Erich von Stroheim
's Greed
(1924), use Davis's music. Davis also created an entire re-scoring of Clarence Brown
's Flesh and the Devil
(1927). In many of these recordings, he is the conductor as well the composer. On several occasions he has performed these works live in the cinema, as well as in concert halls as the film is running.
on December 28, 1970. They have two daughters, Hannah Louise (born 1972) and Jessie Jo (born 1974). Davis has also composed music for daughter Hannah's films Mothers & Daughters (2004) and The Understudy
(2008). Davis and his wife served as executive producers on the latter film, and they appeared in the film as a married couple, the Davidovitzes.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born October 28, 1936, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, United States) is an American born conductor and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
who has made his home in the UK since 1961. In 1970 he married the English actress Jean Boht
Jean Boht
Jean Boht is an English actress.She is most famous for the role of Nellie Boswell in Carla Lane's comedy Bread....
.
Carl is a conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
, and regularly conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society is a society based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, that organises concerts and other events mainly in the field of classical music. The society is the second oldest of its type in the United Kingdom and its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic...
. He has written music for more than 100 television programs, but is best known for creating music to accompany silent films
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
. Davis has assisted in the orchestration of the symphonic works of Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
.
The television years
Davis achieved early prominence with the title music for the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
anthology play series The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
and later for Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
. Additional television scores include Up Pompeii!
Up Pompeii!
Up Pompeii! is a British television comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell, a scriptwriter for the Carry On films, and the second series by Rothwell and Sid Colin. Two later specials were transmitted in 1975 and...
(1971), The Naked Civil Servant
The Naked Civil Servant
The Naked Civil Servant is the title of two biographical works, both based on the life of Quentin Crisp:*The Naked Civil Servant is Crisp's 1968 autobiographical book...
(1975), Man Friday
Man Friday (film)
Man Friday is a 1975 British/American film. It is adapted from the 1973 play by Adrian Mitchell based on Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe, but reverses the roles, portraying Crusoe as a blunt, stiff Englishman, while the native he calls Man Friday is much more intelligent and empathic...
(1975), The Kiss of Death (1977), Langrishe, Go Down
Langrishe, Go Down (film)
Langrishe, Go Down, the novel by Aidan Higgins , was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter, directed by David Jones, filmed for BBC Television in association with Raidió Teilifís Éireann, and first broadcast in September 1978 as a 90-minute BBC2 Play of the Week...
(1978), Private Schulz
Private Schulz (TV series)
Private Schulz was a BBC television comedy drama mini-series starring Michael Elphick in the title role and Ian Richardson playing various parts...
(1980), Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981), The Far Pavilions
The Far Pavilions
The Far Pavilions is an epic novel of British-Indian history by M. M. Kaye, first published in 1978, which tells the story of an English officer during the Great Game. The novel, rooted deeply in the romantic epics of the 19th century, has been hailed as a masterpiece of storytelling...
(1984), The Day the Universe Changed
The Day the Universe Changed
The Day the Universe Changed is a British documentary television series written and presented by science historian James Burke, originally broadcast in 1985 by the BBC...
(1985), Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV serial)
Pride and Prejudice is a six-episode 1995 British television drama, adapted by Andrew Davies from Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth starred as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Produced by Sue Birtwistle and directed by Simon Langton, the serial was a BBC...
(1995), and Coming Home
Coming Home (TV serial)
Coming Home is a 1998 British serial directed by Giles Foster. The teleplay by John Goldsmith is based on the novel of the same title by Rosamunde Pilcher. Produced by Yorkshire Television, it was broadcast in two parts by ITV in April 1998.-Plot:...
(1998).
He also worked for television producer Jeremy Isaacs
Jeremy Isaacs
Sir Jeremy Isaacs is a British television producer and executive, winner of many BAFTA awards and international Emmy Awards. He was also General Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden .-Early life:...
in providing the theme music for the history documentary series The World at War (1973) for Thames Television and Cold War
Cold War (TV series)
Cold War is a twenty-four episode television documentary series about the Cold War that aired in 1998. It features interviews and footage of the events that shaped the tense relationships between the Soviet Union and the United States....
(1998).
Davis conducted the BBC's theme song for their coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
, adapted from George Handel's "See the Conquering Hero Comes".
Film music
He has written a number of film scores including The French Lieutenant's WomanThe French Lieutenant's Woman (film)
The French Lieutenant's Woman is a 1981 film directed by Karel Reisz and adapted by playwright Harold Pinter. It is based on the novel of the same title by John Fowles...
(1981).
Silent film music
In 1980 Davis was commissioned by documentarians Kevin BrownlowKevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent...
and David Gill
David Gill (film historian)
David Ian Gill was born in Papua New Guinea, the son of Cecil Gill, a missionary doctor. His uncle was the sculptor Eric Gill. The family returned to England in 1933 where Gill attended the Belmont Abbey School, Hereford...
to create music for Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
's Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film
Hollywood (documentary)
Hollywood is a 1980 documentary series produced by Thames Television which explored the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios and its impact on 1920s culture....
. His association with them continued the same year with Abel Gance
Abel Gance
Abel Gance was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. He is best known for three major silent films: J'accuse , La Roue , and the monumental Napoléon .-Early life:...
's epic silent film Napoléon (1927), which was restored and expanded with Davis' music for cinematic release. In March 2012, Davis will conduct his score for the complete Brownlow restoration in a presentation by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival
San Francisco Silent Film Festival
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a film festival first held in 1996 and presented annually every July at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, California, USA...
at the Paramount Theatre Oakland. There was a similar treatment for D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
's Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through The Ages (1916). This had orchestral music originally, but Davis's new score was used instead in 1989.
The Hollywood documentary series was followed by the documentaries Unknown Chaplin
Unknown Chaplin
Unknown Chaplin is an acclaimed three-part 1983 British television documentary about the career and the methods of the film luminary Charles Chaplin using previously unseen film for illustration....
in 1982, Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow
Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow
Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow is a 3-part television documentary series made in 1987, charting the life and career of Buster Keaton. The series was written and produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill for Thames Television and narrated by Lindsay Anderson...
(cf Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
) in 1987 and Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (cf Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd
Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. was an American film actor and producer, most famous for his silent comedies....
) in 1989. In the 1980s and 1990s, Davis wrote and conducted the scores for numerous classic silent films released restored and released through Brownlow and Gill's Thames Silents
Thames Silents
Thames Silents is a series of releases of films from the silent era produced by the British ITV contractor Thames Television...
series in the UK.
By 1993, his reputation made him the number one choice for new scores to silent films. Many DVD releases, including Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (1925 film)
Ben-Hur is a 1925 silent film directed by Fred Niblo. It was a blockbuster hit for newly merged Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was the second film based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace...
(1925), Safety Last (1923), DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
's The Godless Girl
The Godless Girl
The Godless Girl is a drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, shown for years as his last completely silent film.-Production background:...
(1928), Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
's City Lights
City Lights
City Lights is a 1931 American silent film and romantic comedy-drama written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. It also has the leads Virginia Cherrill and Harry Myers. Although "talking" pictures were on the rise since 1928, City Lights was immediately popular. Today, it is thought of...
(1931) (re-orchestrated by Davis based on Chaplin's and Padilla's original written score) and Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim
Erich von Stroheim was an Austrian-born film star of the silent era, subsequently noted as an auteur for his directorial work.-Background:...
's Greed
Greed (film)
Greed is a 1924 American dramatic silent film. It was directed by Erich von Stroheim and starring Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller, Tempe Pigott, Sylvia Ashton, Chester Conklin, Joan Standing and Jack Curtis....
(1924), use Davis's music. Davis also created an entire re-scoring of Clarence Brown
Clarence Brown
Clarence Brown was an American film director.-Early life:Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to a cotton manufacturer, Brown moved to the South when he was 11. He attended Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee, both in Knoxville, Tennessee, graduating from the university at the age of...
's Flesh and the Devil
Flesh and the Devil
Flesh and the Devil is an MGM romantic drama silent film. It stars Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lars Hanson, and Barbara Kent, directed by Clarence Brown, and based on the play The Undying Past by Hermann Sudermann....
(1927). In many of these recordings, he is the conductor as well the composer. On several occasions he has performed these works live in the cinema, as well as in concert halls as the film is running.
Personal
Davis married the British actress Jean BohtJean Boht
Jean Boht is an English actress.She is most famous for the role of Nellie Boswell in Carla Lane's comedy Bread....
on December 28, 1970. They have two daughters, Hannah Louise (born 1972) and Jessie Jo (born 1974). Davis has also composed music for daughter Hannah's films Mothers & Daughters (2004) and The Understudy
The Understudy (film)
The Understudy is a 2008 black comedy from British duo David Conolly and Hannah Davis and is their second feature-length film through their Mansion Pictures flagship, which is currently traveling the Film Festival circuit around the world.-Plot:...
(2008). Davis and his wife served as executive producers on the latter film, and they appeared in the film as a married couple, the Davidovitzes.